The London borough of Brent, home to Wembley Stadium, is the least affordable place to buy a house in Britain, according to an analysis by Halifax which compares prices with local pay levels.

The research found that the price of an average home in the borough, which has a population of 264,000, is 8.8 times the average local income. The area includes leafy suburbs such as Brondesbury Park, where luxury homes fetch £4m, as well as the (now redeveloped) Stonebridge estate, a one-time byword for drug dealing and gun crime.

Surging house prices in Oxford have made the university city the second least affordable local authority district in Britain, said Halifax. The typical home in the city now sells for 7.6 times local incomes, and average prices there stand at £343,461.

Halifax added that there was not a single borough within London where young adults and families could buy a home with a mortgage of four times their salary, the traditional yardstick for affordability.

Duncan Stott, of housing campaign group Priced Out, said: "Prices still need to come down substantially in many parts of the country before young adults can hope to buy. There is still a terrible affordability crisis in the UK."

But outside of London, Halifax said falling prices have brought many more districts into the range of first time buyers. It said more than half of all local authority districts now have homes affordable to first time buyers, compared with just 7% at the peak of the housing market in 2007.

Scotland and the north of England lead the way in affordable house prices. South Ayrshire topped the table for affordability, with average prices in the area – which encompasses the Royal Troon Golf Club – just 2.5 times average local incomes. Pendle in Lancashire was the next most affordable place in the UK, followed by Stirling and Renfrewshire.

Halifax said improved affordability has provoked a return of first time buyers, up by just over a third over the past year, although this may have been down to the rush to beat the stamp duty holiday that ended in March. It estimated there were 114,000 first time buyers in the first half of 2012, compared to 85,600 in the same period in 2011. But the figures remain at less than half the number of a decade ago.

Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax, said: "It is clearly encouraging that the number of those getting on to the property ladder for the first time may well increase this year. However, the continued uncertainty over the outlook for the UK economy and the difficulties faced by many in raising the necessary deposit remain significant hurdles for those wishing to buy their first home."

Saving for a deposit remains the greatest problem for most potential first time buyers. Halifax said the typical deposit required in London is £59,221, while in the south-east it is £34,843. In contrast, buyers in Northern Ireland put down the smallest deposit, £16,267.